pet insurance

[hailiejade]

have just sorted out my bunnies pet insurance as thought it would be better to have it than not and a bit confused as to whether baileys recent vet visits class as an illness as they dont pay out for any illness that happened before your insurance starts and for 14 days after , as it goes bailey is not so much ill and is being seen for dietry advice , i have not told insurance people this yet as either way as its before the insurance is taken out , it doesnt qualify , but if they do see it as an illness am i supposed to tell them , and does that mean that if he does end up with an illness in the future due to dietry problems that wont qualify either so having the insurance could be pointless unless he has an accident as i would have to pay regardless , starting to wish i had got this sorted earlier now

 

[mouse_chalk]

Personally, as he's not being treated for any 'illness' as such, I would just keep quiet about it. Like you said you wont be able to claim for it anyway, due to having been to the vets before the insurance started, and I would have thought that it's unlikely to be the 'cause' of any illness down the line, especially if he's being seen and getting dietary advice now. I don't' think there's any need to inform them...

Who are you with for your insurance? If it's Pet Plan then it' usually relatively simple to claim anyway- just get the vets to fill out a form and then send it off, and they post you a cheque.

We've just added Barney and Snowy onto our Pet Plan policy, so now all 4 rabbits are insured for £30 a month :shock:

 

[bellapsyd]

I'm in the states, but I have VPI pet insurance, but I am sure they are somewhat similar. From what I know they have 2 plans- the "maitenance plan"and the "emergency plan". I have a special needs bun (adopted him with liver problems) that I haven't added yet because, like you said, I am worried that he will not be covered- he is on life long medicine. Even if your insurance won't pay for your buns dietary needs, I think it is worth it since GI Stasis is so sudden and deadly. Definitely keep it as a just in case- but I would also see if you can get his dietary needs covered. Maybe your vet can work with you and "rediagnose" him with dietary problems or write a letter to the insurance so that it can be covered as if it were a new diagnosis? Anyways, I find it necessary for bunnies- their systems are so delicate- insurance is a must! I just wish I didn't have to pay the balance in full and THEN submit...ugh.

*oh and yes, keep quiet about the dietary needs for now tomake sure he DOES get covered!

 

[hailiejade]

im with petplan as well have there life plan for both bunnies which is about £16 per month

 

[mouse_chalk]

bellapsyd wrote:

I'm in the states, but I have VPI pet insurance, but I am sure they are somewhat similar. From what I know they have 2 plans- the "maitenance plan"and the "emergency plan". I have a special needs bun (adopted him with liver problems) that I haven't added yet because, like you said, I am worried that he will not be covered- he is on life long medicine. Even if your insurance won't pay for your buns dietary needs, I think it is worth it since GI Stasis is so sudden and deadly. Definitely keep it as a just in case- but I would also see if you can get his dietary needs covered. Maybe your vet can work with you and "rediagnose" him with dietary problems or write a letter to the insurance so that it can be covered as if it were a new diagnosis? Anyways, I find it necessary for bunnies- their systems are so delicate- insurance is a must! I just wish I didn't have to pay the balance in full and THEN submit...ugh.

*oh and yes, keep quiet about the dietary needs for now tomake sure he DOES get covered!

You make good points there! I didn't think to mention that before, I guess if it's that he's had a sensitive digestive system in the past and is being treated or seen for it, then it could potentially cause problems down the road, but in order to get them covered in future, you don't want the insurance company to know that he's already been treated for it, if that makes any sense? Unless this is something that's going to prove quite lengthy and expensive, in which case you may want to speak to them and see if there's anything that can be done. I'm trying to remember when my parents insured our dog with Pet Plan who already had some problems, and if they would cover it in the end or not.... :? But I can't lol...

Also, with Pet Plan, just to make you aware, with Chalk, they nearly didn't pay out (£900 lol, quite a lot!) because we changed our address with them on the same day she went for treatement. Apparently you can't make any claims within 14 days of changing the policy, and that includes changing the address. Ridiculous! We kicked up a fuss because nobody told us this, and also it was just a bit silly- it wasn't our fault that Chalk had happened to get ill on the day we moved house! And they paid eventually, but just so you know that they can be funny about that sort of stuff...

 

[Alexah]

I'm in the States and do not have pet insurance for any of my animals, but I just wanted to thank everyone who posted to this thread. It's been a huge eye opener for me and pet insurance is now something I'm going to seriously consider. Between my bunnies, dogs, and new kittens it certainly couldn't hurt, you know?

Thanks for putting this out here because it's never even been something I've thought about until now.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Alexah wrote:

I'm in the States and do not have pet insurance for any of my animals, but I just wanted to thank everyone who posted to this thread. It's been a huge eye opener for me and pet insurance is now something I'm going to seriously consider. Between my bunnies, dogs, and new kittens it certainly couldn't hurt, you know?

Thanks for putting this out here because it's never even been something I've thought about until now.

Glad to help Alexah! It's true that the more animals you insure, the more it costs (although you should get some sort of discount for insuring lots of animals), and we had been thinking that the £16 a month we were paying for Mouse and Chalk was quite a lot, and a bit of a waste, but then Chalk's illness hit us, and had she not had the insurance, we would have had to pay £1500/$3000 to fix her! Now our policy has more than paid for itself, many times over. It's one of those things that is a pain to pay for, but so invaluable should you ever need it!

 

[bellapsyd]

Alexah wrote:

I'm in the States and do not have pet insurance for any of my animals, but I just wanted to thank everyone who posted to this thread. It's been a huge eye opener for me and pet insurance is now something I'm going to seriously consider. Between my bunnies, dogs, and new kittens it certainly couldn't hurt, you know?

Thanks for putting this out here because it's never even been something I've thought about until now.

Alexah- in the states I think the only one is VPI (google it). It costs me $120 to insure a bunny for an entire year (emergency plan)- I don't have the basic maitenance one b/c I have a vet who treats my parrots come to my house every few months and he does the ears, nails, etc. However, VPI DOES offer discount for the more pets you have. It is well worth it. When my baby ^Frankie^ passed, it cost me $3000! If I had the insurance it would have cost a lot less. Their website is great- it'll show you the amount you can be reimbursed back for each "disease, etc".